Tethered #117

Bonjour everyone! So this Wednesday I went into a creature design evening class as a guest speaker and has SO MUCH FUN >w< there was a real mixture of students from all sorts of backgrounds, I ended up chatting about Tethered and story writing….SELF PROMOTION! YEA! Plus the tutor is really supportive of my comic and kept bringing it up every 10 minutes calling it ‘WORLD RECOGNISED’ haha! Hope that doesn’t jinx it or anything…

SOOOO…I also hear that there are some people out there who like my drawing style but don’t get the story, which is all cool, but I do wonder sometimes what is it about the story they don’t get? Is it difficult to understand? Are they not into sci-fi? Do they only read the first 5 pages and think ‘NAH! CAN’T BE BOTHERED WITH THE REST!’??

First off, this doesn’t bother me, but I am a curious soul and am always interested in your opinions, not that it’s going to change what I do because I have a story to tell and I am going to tell it no matter what 🙂 but if you’d like to let me know your thoughts and feedback then please feel free to email me below!

Oh, and also to those people out there who are “only reading it because they know me”, but don’t actually like my comic, please don’t worry about reading it. I understand it’s not going to hit all the right notes with EVERYBODY! I mean, I’m not a God of storytelling or nothing! So no hard feelings guys! *SUPER DUPER FIST BUMPS*

OH OH! Can anyone name all the featured comics? 😉 more to come!

Please feel free to email me at contacttetheredcomic@gmail.com if you want to give me any feedback or comments, its always good to hear from you guys!

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I think most of them are getting lost early on when they don’t understand Cara’s actions. I’m afraid some people demand that you give them all the information up front so that they don’t have to think. 🙁

What Delta-v basically said, I don’t want to judge or nothing, but do feel some people like to be spoon fed a story rather than think about it too much XD can’t win them all! I was also told that “not much happens” >_>

If it wasn’t for the ton of easter eggs, this would be the saddest page so far. Also, people reading your comic only because they know you? Bit cold of them, imo. Anyway, good luck on your future work m8!

Thanks dude! I’ve always appreciated your support since the beginning! And yea, I thought so too, was a bit shocked when they said it… Just told them not to bother reading it then, and thought I’d say the same to everyone else doing the same :/ coz I’m making this comic for myself and for people to just enjoy if they want to, not coz they HAVE to. Ah well!

Well, *I* recognize it, and I live in the world. Ergo, world-recognized!

The comic isn’t uneventful, but it does have a somewhat slow pace. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course; in fact I tend to be annoyed when things are too fast-paced and gloss over important details or throw a ton of information at the audience in a short time.

A slow-paced webcomic is a pain in the butt right at the moment you finish an archive binge, though. Shifting gears and getting used to waiting for updates like everyone else is tough when you’re used to the next page being a click away. But that’s not a flaw in the comic itself; just an artifact of the medium.

I suppose I can understand how some might be frustrated after they see the relationship/conflict that the comic is named for, depicted in the banner across the top of the site (namely Cara being tethered to Ed by that air hose), and then read the comic to find that it’s only come up in a few scenes out of well over 100 pages’ worth of comic. I assume there will be more of that sort of thing later, and frankly it doesn’t bother me to do without it for a while. Still, I can understand people for whom this was the hook that got them interested feeling like they’ve been bait-and-switched.

Moreover, our main source of comic relief has been rendered mute and faceless while the grumpy, stoic, untalkative one has spent the last several pages just talking to (or being talked at by) people. There’s been a lot of exposition and character development but nothing all that dynamic since we last left that other gang. In other words, we’re at what some might call the boring parts.

While it’s easy to say that a good story shouldn’t *have* boring parts, even the best writers find themselves eventually having to bite the bullet and toss out some exposition. Besides, everyone has a different threshold for what counts as boring, and some people really like the kinds of scenes where we can slow down and learn more about what’s going on in the world of the story. For my money? The last few pages have been, at worst, an extremely minor annoyance, but I’m very interested in the things they’re setting up.

So as far as I’m concerned, it’s all good, but I guess I can see why the comic might not be to everyone’s tastes. I know I’m enjoying it a lot, I’m clearly not the only one, and as far as I can tell, you’re still enjoying making it. Sounds like you’re doing something right.

Wow dude, thank you so much for taking your time on such a large comment!! It is very much appreciated!

I agree with many points there, and to be honest with you it is frustrating as I know where the comic is heading and I can’t wait to show you guys XD this right now, as you say, is exposition as well as character development, which ultimately is laying down more foundations for the story 🙂 it is unfortunate that I cannot draw quicker, I used to upload 3 a week and I would love to go back to that but unfortunately time is against me.

It amazing how patient every one has been, it takes a lot to wait for a story to be uploaded so slowly, especially when the story itself is being slow, but unfortunately there isn’t much I can do about that.

As for what I’ve done to Ed, I am pleased to hear you say that, I do try do this with a purpose, and see it in a way as appreciating something when you don’t have it. So many people like Ed, and he certainly is a strong character, but I also don’t want to wear him out either. I’ve thought Tethered through to the end of the story, and am trying my best (along with the help of my co-writer) to pace Tethered out so that there isn’t large boring parts or ‘fillers’.

It is funny with the name of the comic, it actually will have several meanings by the end of the story, but each meaning will only become obvious the further into the story you read. Starting with the simplest one, the physical cord between Cara and Ed.

It’s great hearing this feedback and knowing where my readers are in terms of how they’ve interpreted the story and how they feel about the pacing etc. I hope when the comic is complete, as a whole, they will see why I’ve made some decisions 🙂 it’s scary enough for me making them! But I told myself when I started this that I would create this story for me, and invite people to enjoy and read whenever they want to. It’s just so wonderful to know so many people are!! Makes all this hard work worth it!